View Full Version : Really Really Bad Products You Wasted Your Money On...
I lost my tweezers somewhere in my house, so while at Target the other day I was fully prepared to spend between $10 and $15 for a decent pair, seeing as I got keep those little chin hairs under control. Well, Target was pretty much out of stock on tweezers and only had some for .97 or $3.69 and then ones for $22. Nothing in between. So I thought for a minute and surmised how much better would the $3.69 ones be compared to the .97 ones? I decided to er on the side of caution because I figured either type would totally suck but I was desperate. I'd rather waste $1.00 rather than $4.00 so the cheaper ones went home with me. They're like trying to pull a single hair out with chopsticks. I cannot believe the energy and resources wasted on such completely worthless crap! Then I start thinking about the thousands of cheap tweezers all over the US getting imported here from China to be tossed with disgust into the garbage because I have YET been able to pluck a single hair with them.
So just for the principle of it, I shall return my .97 tweezers back to Target for my "satisfaction guaranteed or your money back." ;)
Wildflower
2-17-12, 11:44pm
I ONLY use Revlon brand tweezers and the same ones have lasted me years. I bought some other cheapo brand I never heard of once and they were worthless...
I have bought many bad skin and hair care products over the years. Now that I know what works well for me for the best price, I won't be making any mistakes in the future. :)
Oh, boy--if tweezers are the biggest really, really bad purchase you've made, I'm going to be VERY embarrassed coming out of the closet on this one. Here are just two I can think of off the top of my head:
--A used conversion van (as our only car). OMG, was that STUPID. It was a lemon, it was so big you felt like you needed a truck driver's license to get through the streets of New York, you couldn't park in parking decks because the pop-up was too high. Plus we financed it, and it was a financial drain....
--A two year membership to one of those "direct buy" places where they tell you because you're in the "in crowd" you have privy to wholesale prices. We paid $1600 and never bought ONE THING through the membership. It was a hassle, and it wasn't that much cheaper than what you could find if you looked hard enough.
Cheap household cleaning rubber gloves! Let's face it, household cleaning gloves take a beating, and no matter what brand (or quality) one chooses, sooner or later, they're going to fail, but what I've found in the way of better household cleaning gloves, is Nitrile Gloves.
Nitrile gloves don't discolour (and harden and crack) like regular cheap economical rubber gloves do, and they're much stronger/durable than ordinary cheaper brand gloves. And, as far as cost comparison goes, little difference. Well worth the purchase.
My Tweezerman tweezers are about 10 years old and still sharp as ever. They will resharpen them for free if you send them back.
I'm addicted to researching anything before I buy. Buy once, buy right.
SiouzQ,
My favorite tweezers of all time are from the Boots drug stores in England. If you know someone traveling there, ask them to bring you back a couple pair. They're fabulous and quite inexpensive.
My other cheap but bad product category is the super cheap ball point pens. Some of which never write from the very get go. Usually I'll pay a bit more for something more reliable. But, I'm ashamed to admit that I often get suckered in with 10 for a dollar deals frequently.
We stupidly bought a new toaster that started a fire.
I just bought $8 nail clippers to trim our cat's nails (hubby was complaining about the $1 human ones that I have used for 35 years. They did not work, at all.
I just need to stay out of stores.
simplelife4me
2-28-12, 9:39pm
My favorite tweezers come from a cheap Swiss Army Knife. Love it.
A fairly expensive Cuisinart coffee pot on our kitchen counter that has to be watched so it doesn't shut itself off before the coffee finishes brewing.
Well, crap tweezers are crap tweezers, but I'm pretty good with a basic good pair. Probably no more than 10 dollars, and I'm thinking less. I never 'sharpen' them. Didn't know you did that with tweezers.
SiouzQ,
My favorite tweezers of all time are from the Boots drug stores in England. If you know someone traveling there, ask them to bring you back a couple pair. They're fabulous and quite inexpensive.
My other cheap but bad product category is the super cheap ball point pens. Some of which never write from the very get go. Usually I'll pay a bit more for something more reliable. But, I'm ashamed to admit that I often get suckered in with 10 for a dollar deals frequently.
and cheap pencils too. All the wood wasted on really bad pencils.
There are some absolutely USELESS nylon-ish shoestrings on the market right now.
I bought them at 'the devil's store' (what my aunt calls Walmart).
They just don't stay tied unless you put the super, duper mommy double tie on them... which totally defeats teaching my DS that he can do things for himself.
I did end up purchasing Tweezerman's (regular price $22, on sale for $18). Well spent money, I say, no more hairs on my chinny-chin-chin!
I have purchased a few items at Walmart in the past year as it is the only "general" store close by anymore. Every single item - a sweatshirt, some underwear, kitchen items, sewing needles - has failed. Not buying their stuff anymore. Even the name brand things seem to be an inferior grade.
Ditto on the over-priced Cuisinart coffee maker. It died two weeks after the warranty expired.
There are some absolutely USELESS nylon-ish shoestrings on the market right now.
I bought them at 'the devil's store' (what my aunt calls Walmart).
They just don't stay tied unless you put the super, duper mommy double tie on them...
I've run into those shoelaces as well, it's not just Walmart.
Even the name brand things seem to be an inferior grade.
I've run into this at Home Depot as well.
Blackdog Lin
2-29-12, 9:46pm
Forgive the thread drift, but I had to laugh at your woes with shoelace tying. Because I'm still laughing at this guys talk that explains that we're all doing it wrong. I found the link about 6 months ago, have been tying my shoes this correct way since then, and have never ever ever had a lace come untied since. I also now look interesting and intelligent to some coworkers after I showed them how to tie their shoes, and THEIR shoes never ever ever come untied either. :)
BTW, the TED talks series look to be an amazing resource. I'm just now delving into all the interesting learning to be had with them.
http://www.ted.com/talks/terry_moore_how_to_tie_your_shoes.html
(I haven't figured out how to post links on my new computer.....stupid thing.....)
ETA: Well, never mind on not being able to post a link. I guess I can!
simplelife4me
3-1-12, 12:28am
Hair club for men in 1995. Thought I needed that, put down 1 grand. Decided it was stupid, but lost that money. We live and learn.
I didn't know that you could spend $10 on tweezers. This has been enlightening.
I don't like my uber cheap tweezers, but I thought that I just had to live with them.
Pencils and clothespins from the dollar junk store. Thought they were a bargain. Only a bargain if you like spending money on things you have to throw away.
I'm from the UK, and warn against Boots tweezers! In the past, Boots own brand stuff was very high quality, but things are not always what they used to be... I've got some from Boots that were a complete waste of money :-(
I'm not saying for a minute that everything from Boots is no good - just that my tweezers are rubbish!
Now here is an update on the shoe tying thing:
I watched that video, intrigued because I've got one pair of pants that seems to rub on shoelaces in a way that cause them to become untied. So, I thought: this TED guy, he's probably from MIT, right? Aren't a lot of those TED guys leaders in their field? He'll give me the uber engineer way to tie my shoes!
Pumped, I watched the video 2X.
Then, I tied my shoe according to my old style. I pulled on the shoe's side, as he demonstrated, and my old way of tying indicated that I was tying them the CORRECT way.
Hmmmm, so I re-tied them, using a backwards knot, and tested the knot by pulling on the sides of the shoes. voila! The backwards way resulted in the WRONG way.
summary: It appears that I've always been tying my shoes in the correct way. For this I can thank my parents, practical midwesterners, who know how to accomplish chit. My dad was in the Navy in WWII and he knows how to tie knots, maybe that's why I've got this method down. I can only guess that Mr. TED was raised by unfortuante folks who can't engineer in their daily lives. Him assuming that the majority of the world ties their shoes incorrectly is bunk.
Microfiber bathmats. The advertising claimed they dry 30% faster!
They actually dry 30% slower. They show shoeprints. And the rubber backing does not cling to the floor, which has nearly caused several slip and fall accidents.
We are putting towels on the floor in lieu of bathmats now.
now this post about microfiber bath mats reminds me of the new microfiber towels I'm trying. I'm not sold on them, They are soft, but are they absorbant? I don't think so. Still trying them out. And drying them--never thought of a slow dry period! That sucks.
Iris Lily, I found that I also have already been tying my shoes correctly! DH, however, has not. He's going to try the "new" way. Btw, DH is the midwesterner in our family. :-)
I too bought Tweezerman tweezers based on a recommendation from my make-up obsessed DD. She called that one right - and I have to say since she does do a lot of internet research, I can usually trust her judgement. Just glad she is willing to do the research - I would go cheap and regret it!
Originally posted by Maribeth.
We are putting towels on the floor in lieu of bathmats now.I'm never disappointed in the way so many old-fashioned things still remain the "better" choice over modern advancements.
A Rabbit VW in about 1976. It was the first year they were out, and I had been told not to ever buy a car it's first year because the bugs hadn't been worked out. It was true. Finally one day the car stopped 12 times from the Maryland line with WDC to Dupont Circle, and I was bent over the steering wheel crying, and that day traded it in for a Honda Civic because they were consdiered reliable, and this one was.
Sorry to embarrass the guys, but store brand tampons. If you buy a higher absorbency, there's generally a reason for that!:|(
I'd rather spend the $7 on a box of Playtex that don't leak than for a $4.50 box of the Target or Walmart store brand that leak.
And I was SO happy when Playtex started making an "Ultra" absorbency tampon. But other women have had the same reaction when I told them they were available.
OK, this is very TMI...:laff:
And yes, cheapo tweezers are junk! I like the Revlon brand ones as well. Slant tip, only!
Buttermilksky
3-17-12, 1:49pm
Oh gosh. Several years ago we decided that we'd buy those kitchen gadgets that make our favorite store-bought items & save a TON of money. Pizza Oven. Pasta Machine. Bread Machine. Food Dehydrator. Juicer. Chicken Rotisserie. A very expensive garlic chopper that had more moveable parts than the space shuttle.
I won't sit & add up the costs because I don't want to sob. But all of the people who bought those "darn near new" gadgets at our garage sales skipped away from our driveway very happy. I hope they were well used and loved. The right person with the right gadget CAN save a bundle & more importantly ENJOY making his or her own sour dough or yogurt or smoothies. Bless them.
A $3 corkscrew with plastic "wings" that broke the second time I used it.
A Mercury Tracer bought new that cost as much in repairs as the car payment was at the time for 4 months, before I traded it for a Honda Civic Hybrid.
A "student" clarinet that I paid $750 for new, and when I went to sell it found similar models on e-bay for $5. I bought a used clarinet off e-bay, a model recommended by the instructor for $250 that is still going strong with occasional repairs. The cheapo clarinet?....I gifted it to the begining band in structor to give to a student that could not afford to buy one.
There are some absolutely USELESS nylon-ish shoestrings on the market right now.
I bought them at 'the devil's store' (what my aunt calls Walmart).
They just don't stay tied unless you put the super, duper mommy double tie on them... which totally defeats teaching my DS that he can do things for himself.
rub glue stick on them. Seriously. It helps.
i bought the cheap target brand nail clippers and the metal actually busted in half while using it. my nail was stronger than the metal! (or whatever material).
i took them back and bought the revlon brand and it works great!
I do some photography for fun and a (very) little profit. I proof my prints on a home printer before sending them to a printing service. I bought 3 mid-priced Epson printers that expired, one after another, within a few months after the end of their year long warranty. It still torques me off. I should have learned my lesson earlier, but they really did make nice prints.
I just discovered that the supposedly vegan soy "cheese" I've been buying at $3.99 for twelve slices contains milk protein. I'm not a vegan, but I was trying to avoid all dairy products because I've read that they aggravate pollen allergies and here I've been having this stuff in my omelet nearly every morning. Beware of "Veggie Slices" made by Galaxy Nutritional Foods if you have dairy intolerance. Galaxy, indeed. I'd like to send them into orbit.
I've noticed this kind of deception in other products recently. One supermarket got in potting soil made by some company with 'organic' in their brand name, but there was no "Certified Organic" seal on the package. Turns out it has styrofoam in the potting mix. Honey products from Y.S. Organic Bee Farm aren't all organic.
And why, oh, why are so many "health" foods packaged in plastic? Who cares if it's recycled plastic??? There are toxins in plastic that can leech into the food!
and cheap pencils too. All the wood wasted on really bad pencils.
It isn't necessarily the quality of the pencils that causes problems. If the pencils are dropped during the manufacturing or shippiing process, the leads break inside and you will have a pencil that breaks off repeatedly.
My father would be so proud. He paid thousands of dollars for me to learn that in art school. >8)
porcelaindoll
5-2-12, 11:47am
I have bought at least 3 nail clippers from the drug store that were absolute garbage - ranging from $2 to $6 each and reputable brands...they all had to go straight into the trash! What a waste. I've had bad luck with tweezers too. They only work when I spend at least $10, which seems ridiculous to me.
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